Battered Maroons pull off stunning comeback on 'really poor' Blues to put Fittler's future in jeopardy

Brad Fittler’s future as Blues coach is in jeopardy after Queensland drew first blood in the State of Origin series at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday night despite being down to 12 men when they scored the late match-winner. 

The Blues couldn’t convert a mountain of field position and possession, particularly in the first half, while the Maroons made the most of their rare opportunities to register a stunning 26-18 victory. 

Billy Slater was criticised for selecting Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Reece Walsh ahead of more experienced campaigners but the Hammer scored two tries, including the scintillating match-winner, while the Broncos fullback was dynamic all game.

Fittler needs to win this series after the Blues lost the shield last year to ensure he has his contract renewed but as it stands, he needs to come away from Suncorp Stadium on June 21 with victory to force a series decider in Sydney in July. 

“I thought NSW were really poor,” said Immortal halfback Andrew Johns in a post-match blast on Nine. “The attack was terrible, they had so much possession, so much momentum. You’ve just got to be better.”

While the Blues were disappointing, the Maroons displayed their trademark spirit to out-hustle their opponents while coming up with momentous defensive efforts, particularly in the final 10 minutes when prop Tom Flegler had been sin-binned.

Ben Hunt and David Fifita were shifted out to the centres as the injuries mounted for the Maroons late in the contest but their never-say-die spirit got them home.

“That’s one of the greatest wins I’ve seen from a Queensland team,” gushed former coach Paul Vautin.

CLICK HERE for a seven-day free trial for your favourite sport on KAYO

Fittler searching for answers

Fittler was bemused with the way his team did not close out the result despite leading by two against a 12-man side heading into the final stages.

“When we got to the front I was pretty excited. It wasn’t that smooth but we got to the front, got a restart and from there it just went downhill,” he said.

“I thought the last 10 minutes we didn’t handle very well at all, especially when they were down to 12. I thought we were in control.”

He said it felt like they had enough opportunities but agreed the team looked disjointed.

When asked about the massive challenge of squaring the series in Queensland, he said nothing was impossible but it was going to be tough to regain the momentum. “We need to regoup, we’ve got to be better.”

Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow beats the tackle of Josh Addo-Carr before scoring. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Fittler said it was too early to speculate on team changes but centre Latrell Mitchell is all but certain to come back in after a calf strain cruelled his chances of playing in Adelaide.

Billy beaming with pride

Slater was proud of the way his team rose to the occasion when confronted with more than their fair share of adversity.

“It was a huge effort,” he said.

“We didn’t play overly smart at times. I won’t use the word I used in the coach’s box but there’s a lot of guts and courage and determination in this footy team.

“Queenslanders go through droughts. They go through cyclones, they go through floods. They go through a lot of adversity. We try to represent our people in that way. That’s what makes our people so proud and why this footy team is such an inspiration for our people.”

Slater is not the kind of coach to boast about being vindicated but his selection of Walsh in his old No.1 jersey was a masterstroke.

“He’s got so much substance to his game outside of the highlights,” Slater said. “He’s building a foundation to his game that’s gonna hold him in good stead for a long period of time. That’s why he’s here – he’s a quality player and he’s got a big future ahead of him.”

Man of the match Reuben Cotter was charged for a crusher tackle on Thursday morning and Flegler was pinged with a grade-two careless offence for his sin bin hit on Tom Trbojevic but both will avoid bans by being fined 10-13% percentage of their match fee.

Fiery clash but Maroons play smarter

There were a few push and shove incidents early as both teams looked a little too eager to show their bravado in front of the not quite sold-out crowd of 48,613.

Maroons forward Tom Gilbert rushed in after Walsh was tackled mid-air by Tyson Frizell and roughed up by Josh Addo-Carr and Tevita Pangai jnr.

Then debutant second-rower Hudson Young got physical with Queensland captain Daly Cherry-Evans and Gilbert was again spoiling for a fight. 

Queensland cashed in on the poor NSW discipline in the eighth minute when Cameron Munster threaded a grubber through from close range and Tabuai-Fidow pounced to score his second try in his second Origin. 

A few minutes later while Slater was conducting an in-game interview with Nine to say the Maroons were “playing their football”, they did just that with Walsh sweeping around the back for Valentine Holmes to put Selwyn Cobbo over in the corner for a 10-0 buffer. 

Cameron Murray is tackled by Harry Grant and Ben Hunt. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Image

Gilbert’s eventful night ended in the 18th minute when he suffered a dislocated shoulder while making a tackle and while he was crouched down near the sideline, his replacement Lindsay Collins took a hit-up, which led to a rare on-field penalty for having 14 players on the arena.

Blues skipper James Tesdeco looked set to capitalise on the next set but was held up and out by Murray Taulagi.

“They executed very well. [We’re] not as organised as we’d like to be,” Fittler told Nine at the time.

Taulagi was in the action again in the 23rd minute when Frizell barged over from close range but the winger somehow held him up even though Maroons legend Cameron Smith conceded “it looked as though some part of that football had touched the turf” in Nine commentary as the bunker reviewed the replays before upholding Ashley Klein’s on-field no-try decision. 

A few plays after David Fifita left the field for an HIA, it was Panthers purr-fection in the 33rd minute as old Penrith hooker Api Koroisau fed Nathan Cleary, who shovelled it onto Jarome Luai and Liam Martin stormed onto the ball to make it 10-6 after sustained pressure on the Maroons line.

Former Blues coach Phil Gould was not impressed with their opening efforts. “The centres aren’t getting clean ball and there tends to be a lot of switching plays behind the ruck which is slowing the action down and playing into Queensland’s hands,” he said in Nine’s half-time analysis. “If Queensland had the amount of ball that NSW had, they would have scored six or seven tries. They were carving NSW up.”

The Blues hit the front five minutes after the restart when Koroisau knocked down a Holmes offload close to the line and scooted over the stripe.

Maroons debutant Reece Walsh is tackled in Adelaide. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Cotter did the same trick up the other end of the field, knocking down an offload to regain possession and Cobbo finished off a right-side raid soon after to slide over for the second time to put the Maroons up 16-12.

A couple of Maroons fumbles brought the Blues into the red zone and a Cleary kick was batted back for Stephen Crichton in the 67th minute to make it 18-16.

Queensland were controversially reduced to 12 men for 10 of the final 11 minutes when Flegler was sin-binned for high contact in a tackle on Trbojevic, who was ruled out for the rest of the match with a category-one concussion. 

The Maroons were down to bare bones for the closing stages with Cobbo (leg) and Taulagi (head knock) forced off but they spread the ball wide to Tabuai-Fidow who sprinted down the left flank and stood up Tedesco to make it 22-18.

They sealed the triumph three minutes from full-time when prop Lindsay Collins leapt high to collect a bomb to send Cameron Munster over to complete a stunning comeback.

“We won twice in Queensland a few years ago, it’s not over yet,” said Tedesco.